System Flexibility Specialist

Location: Blended between office and home (England and Wales). Time in office negotiable.

Salary: £45,243 - £47,807 plus London allowance of £3,520 if applicable.

We are looking for a System Flexibility Specialist in the Energy team in our Partnerships and Advocacy directorate. You will be our subject matter expert in energy system flexibility, matrixed to our energy policy team, supporting the directorate to make energy work for all of us. We need someone with a thorough working knowledge of this specialist area, the ability to recognise how it can change to benefit consumers, and the desire to make that change happen.

You will lead the development of and manage the effective delivery of Citizens Advice strategy and work programme for energy system flexibility, its evolving market structures and the value for money on energy bills.

You will develop an engagement strategy and lead on external engagement with system flexibility stakeholders such as Ofgem, the UK government, NESO and Elexon.

You will actively participate in relevant roundtables, working groups and industry codes to ensure flexibility maximises both benefits and protections.

You will develop Citizens Advice positions on how best to balance the cost of system flexibility with consumer-led flexibility.

Citizens Advice is the statutory advocate for energy consumers. We use research and evidence from the people who contact our advice service every day to understand the problems facing energy consumers in Great Britain. We help solve these problems by engaging with industry, persuading policymakers to change rules and regulations, and supporting consumers to navigate the market.

Please provide details in your cover letter to evidence the following essential criteria:

• A thorough working knowledge of energy flexibility gained through extensive experience in policy-making, regulation, or industry, together with an understanding of how consumers are impacted, and where opportunities to advocate for the benefit of consumers lies.
• Excellent analytical/research skills, with a demonstrated ability to tackle complex problems and the ability to contribute to the development of an influential policy research programme, under a broad work theme, in which equality and diversity is appropriately integrated.
• Ability to build, maintain and utilise a network of key stakeholders, including an ability to build relationships at all levels of an organisation, including a strong understanding of what really makes senior decision makers change policy and practice, using both formal and informal routes.

Citizens Advice offers confidential advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free. Through our national network of charities, we give people the knowledge and the confidence they need to find their way forward – whoever they are, and whatever their problem.

Do you want to work for an organisation that makes a difference, every single day, to people from all walks of life? The people that turn to Citizens Advice need help overcoming an obstacle in their lives – from debt to evictions to trouble at work – and you can be key to them getting the support they need in the quickest, easiest, and most effective way.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is of strategic importance within the organisation and recognised as integral to all we do as a service. Central to pursuing our EDI mission is building diverse and inclusive teams in which everyone has a sense of belonging. We believe inclusion is a social justice issue - a principle that underpins our all EDI work. To that end, we particularly welcome applications from people we would like to see better represented in our organisation and sector - people of colour, LGBTQ+ people and disabled people.

We follow the social model of disability. We will offer an interview to disabled candidates who indicate they wish their application to be considered under our Disability Confident Interview Commitment where they meet our selection criteria in their application. Some of our roles attract a high volume of applications and in some circumstances where it is not practicable or appropriate, we may limit the number of interviews offered to disabled and non-disabled candidates. We will provide reasonable adjustments as needed.

We’re a flexible employer, so this role may suit anyone who’d prefer a flexible arrangement to help their work/life balance, many of our colleagues spend most of their time working remotely. Whilst we prefer a blended approach between a local office, if one is near you, and home we’re open to being flexible on location, occasionally a role may require you to be based in a certain location if that’s the case it will be detailed in the advert or job description. This can be discussed in more detail during your interview.

The National Citizens Advice operates from offices in England and Wales, with 4 regional offices based in Cardiff, London, Birmingham and Leeds, therefore all successful applicants must be based within England or Wales.

Please be aware that Citizens Advice is not a sponsoring organisation. Therefore the successful applicant must already possess the right to work in the UK or be able to secure the right to work in the UK independently.

We have been awarded the top charity in Third sector's employer index, where it’s recognised that Citizens Advice is an organization that not only prioritises the people we serve but also values the wellbeing of its employees.